Tweet Tweet

Great little article in Fast Company about 140 most influential people on Twitter.  Do I want to follow them all? No.  Would it be cool to be on the list some day? Yes.  But I suppose I’d need to say more first.

Happy June!

Tagged with:
 

Alone vs. Loneliness

Do we really tend to lead a lonely existence?  As a Catholic I was taught that I was made from ash and I will return to ash, which is a very uplifting message, don’t you think?  I have heard it said that we are born into the world alone and we will die alone.  I find that difficult to believe.

There were at least three people in the room with me when I was born; the doctor, a nurse and of course my mother (it was the 70’s, so I assume my dad was pacing the waiting room with a box of cigars), so how was I alone at birth?  I have been surrounded by people my whole life, I come from a family with two brothers, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  I had grandparents, great grandparents, have godparents and relatives I’ve only seen but a few times but are still connected to me.

I went to public school and continue to maintain relationships with people I met when I moved to the town I grew up in.

I went to college in a city that was filled with young and old and the school was in the heart of one of the oldest cities in America.  Walking around Boston in the middle of the night, one could feel the presence of the ghosts of the founding fathers of America, and the natives who inhabited this land far before.

The majority of my on air experience, when I was a disc jockey, was in the middle of the night.  I was alone, physically in a room, but I was talking to hundreds of thousands of people (millions if you believe some of the ratings).  When I do my podcast, usually I sit alone in a room, talking into a microphone, but I share the show with an old friend and we produce using Skype.  Hundreds of people listen to us when they choose.  Sure, podcasting is an experience that one usually does alone, but we are all connected by the content.

When I was in school, I lived in a dorm.  For the majority of the time, I inhabited a single room, but was surrounded by people.  I lived with roommates after school, and even lived with a woman who would become my first wife.

I didn’t actually live alone, until I was divorced, four years ago and the experience has been interesting.  We all desire for time to sit quietly in our own space.  We can do what we want, explore our own thoughts and sometimes get so far inside our heads that we feel isolated… alone.

(more…)

Tagged with:
 

Even though I work in the media, I have only a passing care/interest in who Justin Bieber is.  I don’t have any children, so this kid is not anywhere on my radar.  The only reason I can sort of place the name is because I have a brilliant staff who keeps their finger on the pulse of entertainment and what the young folks are listening to.  They in turn like to tell me what’s going on.  I appreciate them for that.

According to Wikipedia, Bieber is a “pop” star from Canada who was born as I was half way through my stint in Boston.   He was on Saturday Night Live recently, but the episode was not that memorable (despite being hosted by Tina Fey, so maybe it was somewhat memorable) and I could not, if my life depended on it, tell you the name of any song he performs.   In fact, if someone had a gun to my head and asked me to name a song or he’d kill me, I’d say a prayer, think of family, friends remember the company of certain women, wonder why this insane person was hell bent on recreating a scene from “Criminal Minds,” and take the bullet.  I’d die confused, but ultimately be happier none the less.

But I digress.

A friend of mine sent me the video posted below.  It is 100% proof positive that if NJ Governor Chris Christie cuts funding for education and we lose teachers, every student in the great state of New Jersey will be as dumb as this kid.

I know Bieber is from Canada, which proves that the Province of Ontario, most likely needs help with it’s educational system. (Note to readers from Ontario… please correct me if I am wrong.  If not… spend some money to improve your own.)

To all my friends who are educators, to all my friends who are parents,  do not let this happen to your child: